DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55699#0180
144 THE LANDSCAPE ANNUAL.
We might multiply stories of this kind till they would
fill a volume ; but the above are amply sufficient to
illustrate the too general character of pontifical history,
and of Rome in the zenith of her latter glory. There
were, it is true, bright exceptions to the constant recur-
rence of evil men and evil deeds in the course of her rise
and fall, for so her state may now almost be termed ; and
the memory rests with delight on the names of such men
as Ganganelli and others of the same class, who strove,
in a corrupt court and nation, to preserve the ancient
simplicity of Christian virtue. But it was not by the
actions of these men that Rome became a second time
the dictator of the world : the founders of her empire
were the dark but powerful spirits whose vices astonish
and dismay the imagination, and, could we forget how
they corrupted truth and violated the sanctity of their
name, whose splendid policy and daring would inspire us
wTith admiration.
The spirits of the Brutuses, the Caesars, the Alexan-
ders, and Leos are still, to the imagination, hovering over
the seven hills ■,—from the spot wffiere we fancy ourselves
standing, the mingled monuments of their fame and am-
bition rise upon the view—the Colosseum and St. Pe-
ter’s—the crumbling temples of Mars and Venus—the
magnificent shrine of our Saviour—the tombs of em-
perors by the wayside—the mausoleums of popes, sur-
mounted by splendid churches, are before us! And on
what other spot on the globe can we stand and contem-
plate such a scene ?
We might multiply stories of this kind till they would
fill a volume ; but the above are amply sufficient to
illustrate the too general character of pontifical history,
and of Rome in the zenith of her latter glory. There
were, it is true, bright exceptions to the constant recur-
rence of evil men and evil deeds in the course of her rise
and fall, for so her state may now almost be termed ; and
the memory rests with delight on the names of such men
as Ganganelli and others of the same class, who strove,
in a corrupt court and nation, to preserve the ancient
simplicity of Christian virtue. But it was not by the
actions of these men that Rome became a second time
the dictator of the world : the founders of her empire
were the dark but powerful spirits whose vices astonish
and dismay the imagination, and, could we forget how
they corrupted truth and violated the sanctity of their
name, whose splendid policy and daring would inspire us
wTith admiration.
The spirits of the Brutuses, the Caesars, the Alexan-
ders, and Leos are still, to the imagination, hovering over
the seven hills ■,—from the spot wffiere we fancy ourselves
standing, the mingled monuments of their fame and am-
bition rise upon the view—the Colosseum and St. Pe-
ter’s—the crumbling temples of Mars and Venus—the
magnificent shrine of our Saviour—the tombs of em-
perors by the wayside—the mausoleums of popes, sur-
mounted by splendid churches, are before us! And on
what other spot on the globe can we stand and contem-
plate such a scene ?